


It was only a month (Short Story)

by capricious_enthusiast



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gothic, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 11:20:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16953030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capricious_enthusiast/pseuds/capricious_enthusiast
Summary: A doctor takes a rather long house call for a very large amount of extra cash. Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting results". What is the case when despite what someone does differently, they cannot get away from the same results?





	It was only a month (Short Story)

It Was Only For a Month

It was October 31st when I first arrived at the house. The sun was setting as I got there, and the sky was a dull gray. I usually hated coming out to places like this, in the middle of nowhere, but I was promised more pay for that one month than my entire year’s salary. As I looked at the house, I shivered. I didn’t like it. But then, I remembered all the debt that I would be free of after a month. I couldn’t pass on this wonderful opportunity. I walked up to the house, and knocked on the door. A woman in her late thirties or early forties answered the door.   
“You’re the doctor?” she asked.  
“Yes I’m Susan, but-” I couldn’t even finish my sentence before she tossed me the keys and walked out of the house. Within a few seconds, she got into her car which was parked in front of the house, and drove off, leaving me standing at the door. I walked in, pulling my suitcase, shut the door behind me. The dim yellow light illuminated the place I would be staying in. The few pieces of furniture were broken or worn, or had springs sticking out. The flowery wallpaper looked old and dirty. Almost every surface was covered in dust. The room itself smelled like mildew. It looked like it had been uninhabited for years. The house seemed too big for just two people. I looked at the information sheet on what I would be doing. I had printed it beforehand, as I was told that there would be no internet at the house. I flipped through the papers, while I looked for the room that I would be staying in.   
As I was looking around, I heard a voice calling out faintly, “Angela! Angela!” I looked to see where the sound was coming from, and it seemed to be from the room right next to mine. I opened the door, and there was an old woman who looked as if she were a thousand years old. Her papery skin clung to her bones as if whatever was between them had long deteriorated. Her eyes were so sunken it looked as if they were almost inside her skull, and it would have felt surprising if she had been able to see clearly through the cataracts. She was almost bald except for a few strands of wispy, almost blue hair.   
She looked at me, but it felt like she was looking through me.   
“Angela?” she asked in a raspy voice. That name sounded very familiar for some reason.   
“Angela just left. I’m Susan. And you must be Miss Victoria. I’ll be with you for the next month.”  
“Angela...left?”   
“Yes, Miss Victoria,” I said gently, “But I’m sure she’ll be back soon. Is there anything I can get you?”  
She looked at me as I stood there, not sure how to react exactly. After a minute or so, she smiled with her four yellowing teeth. She closed her eyes with a sigh. I stood there for a few seconds, waiting for her to open her eyes. After a while, I just left the room. Of course I’ll have to stay here, I thought, but why go through all of the trouble? No matter how much treatment she gets, she won’t last that much longer. She might not even last the month.   
I opened the door to my room, marked with the number 6. I pulled open the door, flipping the light switch. It looked like it was some sort of storage room. There were boxes everywhere, old toys, furniture, and there was a small bed in the middle. I set down my suitcase, and closed the door. I decided to change into something more comfortable. I put on my pajamas and walked out towards the kitchen. The silence and darkness felt eerie, so I turned on the lights through the hallway. When I turned on the lights to the kitchen, I jumped.   
“Miss Victoria?”   
She was sitting at the table, drinking a glass of milk. How had she gotten here so fast? She had looked completely unable to move before.   
“What are you doing here?” I asked. She just smiled at me and kept sipping her milk.   
“I was just about to get some dinner. Would you like something?”  
She just kept looking at me.   
“Okay, then,” I said. I walked over to the humming fridge, looking inside. It was surprisingly full of normal food. I didn’t know that someone as old as Miss Victoria could eat microwavable pizza. I pulled out two bottles of water and turned towards the table. Miss Victoria was still looking at me.   
“I’m sorry, why have you only said about three words so far?”  
She didn’t move. I put a bottle of water in front of her and sat down at the table. I tried for a few minutes to try to get her to tell me if she felt that anything was wrong healthwise, but she didn’t say a single word. I told her that we could try again tomorrow when she felt better, and walked back to my room. She was still sitting at the table. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the next week, that’s how it continued. Miss Victoria would sit there in silence as I gave her medicine and tried to get her to show any indication that she understood what I was saying. She would either be at her room or be sitting at the table in silence, always at the same time. She was always smiling slightly. I would have to admit that it felt weird when she looked at me with those ancient eyes. I was surprised she didn’t seem very sick in any way. All of the rooms in the house were neglected and disgusting, and mildew was everywhere. It felt like it was impossible to take a breath without breathing in 70% non-air substances. I felt like I wasn’t doing that well myself. The first day I arrived, I had felt queasy, I assumed, from the five hour ride to the house. However, that queasiness kept coming back every evening around the same time. I was beginning to think that something in the house was affecting my health.   
One day, I tried to go get some food from the store. The fridge was far from empty, but I remembered seeing a grocery store on the way to the house, and I wanted to see a face other than the old lady every single day. I announced that I would be leaving, but as usual, no response. I walked out the door, and was immediately confronted by a long road. I walked for a few minutes and saw nothing. No cars, no houses. Other than the road itself, there was almost no evidence of human life. I lost track of how far I walked, but it barely seemed like I had moved. When I looked back, I could still see the tiny outline of the house in the distance. It started to get late, and I began to get tired.   
I stopped for a second. On the side of the road, I saw an outline of a person. I looked closely, and gasped.   
“Miss Victoria?”  
I walked over, but there was no one there, it was just empty space. It was getting darker. I shivered. I should be getting back, I thought. I started walking back in the direction I had come. I wasn’t sure why, but the walk back seemed a lot shorter than the walk towards the store had taken.   
As I opened the door, I found Miss Victoria in the same spot at the table, silently sitting. I tried asking her questions, trying to start a conversation for what felt like the millionth time. I then realized how long this trip had felt. The same thing had happened every single day. The weather was always the same - the sun had never come out. The same bird would even start screeching at the same time each morning. It felt like the same air particles shifted in the same positions. I needed to get back to the real world. I pulled out my computer which I had brought and barely used that entire trip, as there was no internet in that house. I turned it on, and looked at my calendar. It was at the same date that it was at when I first arrived. I refreshed it a few times. It was still exactly the same. Why was my computer broken? I closed it and took out my phone, also barely used. It had the same issue. I closed my phone and sat there for a few seconds. Why wasn’t anything working?  
Suddenly, Miss Victoria laughed. It almost sounded like she giggled. If I didn’t see her face, I would have thought it was someone at least one fourth of her age. She looked at me and stood up slowly, gesturing for me to follow her. I walked after her down one of the hallways, until we reached a room in a random corner of the house where I had never been before. Miss Victoria opened the door, and showed me a giant stack of newspapers. I looked at her, confused. She just looked at me. I knelt down and looked at the newspapers. All of them had the same date: October 31st, 2018, the day I had arrived. I flipped through them. All of them had the same stories, the same people, and were somehow almost exactly the same. There was one difference, however. I looked at the ones in the back. They were yellowing with age, almost falling apart. Yet, somehow, they had today’s date on them. The one nearest to the door looked fresh off the press. While I was comparing these, I heard a soft voice behind me.   
“This is a lonely house. I do get bored, Angela.”  
I started to say, “I’m Susan...”, but I suddenly remembered. I should have left that first day. I had to get out. I didn’t have time to turn around.  
“Bye Angela,” I felt cold wrinkled hands wrapping around my neck.   
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It was October 31st when I first arrived at the house. The sun was setting as I arrived, and the sky was a dull gray. I usually hated coming out to places like this, in the middle of nowhere, but I was promised more pay for that one month than my entire salary for a year. As I looked at the house, I shivered. I didn’t like it. But then, I remembered all the debt that I would be free of after a month. I couldn’t leave now. I walked up to the door, and knocked. 

 

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This is my first story, so I'm sure it's not up to par, but I will gladly take any critiques on how to improve. It may not have the mass appeal that fanfiction seems to have but I had a lot of fun writing this and I hope you enjoyed reading!


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